When 1001 different simulation games are coming out every week, there is one developer that you can always turn to to give you an incredible experience. This time, Saber Interactive has traded in its mud, snow, and off-road monstrosities for heavy machinery, asphalt, and the smell of the ocean.
A Story of Rebuilding
Docked takes place during an extremely devastating storm that almost destroys a family-owned and run port.
As the storm is getting closer to land, a container ship limps out of the darkness. We must get it unloaded before any more cargo is lost to the ocean.
Our first task is to get the STS running. Yip, I’m a shoreman now, and all I do is speak in dock talk. STS is a massive ship-to-shore crane. You are in control of everything, so first we need to start the engine and lower the boom arm. Unlike other sim games, Docked allows you to get out of the vehicles and walk around. This cool new feature really allows Docked to show the scale of some of these machines. Once you are in the driver’s seat, the real fun begins.
There are so many buttons and levers to move and lower the spreader. It took a little to get used to, but it’s just a giant claw machine. Move over the container and lower it into position.
The visibility isn’t that great, but thankfully, there are a lot of aids to help you in your task. Just line up the spreader within the green box and carefully raise it so you don’t damage the surrounding containers.
Luckily, we were able to unload the ship just before disaster struck.
The storm all but wipes out the port. Destroying all the machinery and the surrounding area.
It’s now our job to clean up after the storm and get the port up and running.
Starting Again
The game loop is a mixture of resource management and completing tasks each day in order to earn money to upgrade your port and vehicles.
The day starts with you choosing orders. These are your main money makers. They are measured in TEU (Twenty-foot equivalent Units), look at us! We are learning so much
However, your vehicles can only move so much cargo a day, so don’t go signing the biggest orders because if you can not move the requested amount, you will be charged for any missed deadlines.
Next, you must decide how the cargo is going to be moved. It needs to be unloaded, transported, and then loaded back onto trucks or trains to be sent out for delivery.
Get to Work!
Once the processing has been done its time to get our hands dirty. When you first start, we only have access to the STS and a Reacher Stacker, and the jobs we have to do are part of the supply chain we have just set up.
The reacher stacker is a container forklift of sorts and is used to move and stack containers. As you progress through the days and gain the ability to take on bigger orders by purchasing new machinery and upgrading your port Docked story starts to take shape.
The story missions introduce new mechanics and critical tasks that have time limits. Don’t be fooled, though; the time limits are extremely generous, and if you do fail, you will only lose the bonus. However, if you damage the cargo too much, you will fail the job and have to restart.
You will be moving around a lot of damaged stuff from the storm cleanup and this will require a different piece of machinery. The spreader can be equipped with ropes to lift oddly shaped items. This is a careful balancing act, having to change the lengths of the ropes, so they don’t break while you are moving them.
There are a few other mini games in Docked to break up the day. Eventually, your machinery will break down. You will have to find the break using an X-ray tool and then repair it. The repair is one of 5 mini games that require you to jump-start some cogs, replace circuit boards, release pressure, match wires, and plug a spinning disc.
I Would Love Some Friends
As the jobs get bigger, you will be required to use multiple vehicles to complete a job. Almost all other Saber Interactive sim games have additional co-op; unfortunately, Docked is a single-player experience that would have benefited from a second player option.
It would have been amazing to be able to guide the crane driver from the air-conditioned cab of my truck. Left, left, left, OTHER LEFT!!!!
Another thing that is missing or not used to its full potential is weather. Docked is set during and after a storm. I would have loved to have the lights go out and unload in the dark, the wind just throwing things around. I know that it’s trying to be a more realistic sim, and under those conditions you wouldn’t work, but umm fun.
Performance
Playing Docked on the Xbox Series X was not a perfect experience. There were a few minor clipping issues moving around the port. Whenever moving containers around on the flatbed, they would shudder and stutter and not be able to keep up with the truck, and it played havoc on my eyes. A simple switch to first-person mode would fix it.
The audio was great. I played most of Docked using headphones to really get into the feels. The machinery sounds fantastic, with the wind and the rain howling around the cabin. However, there were quite a few times I lost all audio except for the music. It would fix itself, just something to note.
Not sure if it was a glitch or just badly worded, but when I finished the story, all the achievements I didn’t have stopped progressing. I thought it might have been a tracking problem, but one of the achievements was to complete a certain task 25 times. It’s stuck at 96%. I did it at least 5 more times with no luck. Once the story is complete, the game is finished, and you cannot continue playing. They also don’t seem to carry over to a new save.
Verdict.
Docked is a solid next step in the sim category for Saber Interactive. I loved every second learning about all the new machinery and how best to use it. The introduction of a story was a nice touch that a lot of simulation games don’t have. The few performance issues didn’t take away from the fun I had with Docked. However, the lack of continuing to play after I finished was a bit of a letdown. Working so hard to get my port fully upgraded, and not being able to really use it.
Gamer Social Club was supplied a copy of Docked for the purpose of this review.
Docked was reviewed on the Xbox Series X
Docked will be available on the 5th of March on PlayStation 5, PC (via Steam and Epic), and Xbox Series X/S
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